Here's Lee Hower!
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Hello up north, Land of the Loonies! Because Craig said that everyone who wanted to host could host, I made the cut! It is your friendly Californian - from Sacramento - Lee Hower, aka mcfflyer, the very first international co-host with Craig. Such an honor! Ooops. I mean honour! I was fortunate that Craig gave me an extra week to prepare, as I had to go up into the rafters of the house to find where I stored my radio DJ voice, as well as my FCC Third-Class Radio-Telephone license, a requirement if you wanted to be a broadcaster in the States. Of course, they eliminated the need for this license, and look what happened to radio.
Not only am I the first American to co host with Craig, I am by far the oldest. I know you're wondering: just how did a guy from California in his mid 50s ever get interested in Canadian independent music? Well, I've asked myself that question - but I frankly don't care what the answer is. This is my "Fourteen Forever" period, as never have I been so interested in music: the songs, the bands, the band members. Just happens my niche is Canadian independent music. I've found what I like, and haven't attempted to see if we have any music like this here. However, my 22 year old daughter describes radio3 as "Dad's Canadian Music", and that I listen to better music than she does.
Hit to find out about Lee's Can-indie music discovery!
My music history goes back to the 1960s, back to the great years of Top 40 radio, which is really when music was fun and fun to listen to. You know, the early Beatles, The Beach Boys. Back then, I was more interested in radio than I was in music, and was a disc jockey in college and briefly professionally before going back to college for my master's degree.
Phase two of my musical interest was when MTV started in 1981. A television station with all these little three minute movies, those primitive early videos. Although I really enjoyed the New Wave movement, the first band I ever really wanted to see were The Go-Go's! I thought they were great, and admit to a crush on Belinda Carlisle. I never had a teenage crush on any musician before, so I thought I deserved one as I approached 30. Alas, MTV morphed away from playing music, and my marriage and children took me away from playing music loudly at all hours of the night, and the music did die for me.
So how'd I discover Radio3? In 2003, I remarried, and my wife to be handled the wedding and reception, and I handled the honeymoon. And I knew where I wanted to go: Canada. In 1977, I took a trans-Canadian trip by train from Vancouver to Nova Scotia and back, and I vowed to return. I didn't realize that it would take me 26 years to make good on that vow. My wife, Linda, had never been to Canada, and so instead of the usual honeymoons to Hawaii, we flew to Seattle for our wedding night, and next morning took the train to Vancouver, and then rode VIA Rail from the Pacific to the Atlantic, Vancouver to Toronto to Montreal to Halifax. Five nights in a row on a train. Wow. Then we spent 15 days touring the Maritimes.
While in Charlottetown, we saw the band, Boys Next Door, and after buying the CD that they had on hand, told them I wanted the album they were recording. They sent it to me, and by checking their website, saw that one of their songs was on a east coast music countdown show. Went to that website, and was astonished to find song after song that I not only liked, but wanted. So I went to Maple Music of Toronto to order the CD from Two Hours Traffic, and to make the order worthwhile, ordered a CD/DVD combination greatest hits album for a band that had moved from Halifax to Toronto. Well, when I received Sloan's A Sides Win, I was blown away. Not only did I like the music, but I really enjoyed the DVD. Now I wanted to see Sloan. And not knowing that Sloan travels down the West Coast, I drove 900 miles to Vancouver to see the band, meeting both Chris Murphy and Jay Ferguson.
I knew that Sloan was occasionally in the news, and one day I went to the regular CBC website and queried "Sloan". It connected me with radio3, and it was like being given a treasure chest, filled with incredible music. With that I became a regular listener, downloading every podcast, seeing acts that come through Northern California, and buying music either at shows, locally if available, or order them from Canada.
With my daughter attending my own alma mater, Oregon State University - Go Beavers! - and listening to this music, I certainly don't feel (or at least think) like I'm in my 50s. I never went to see live music when I was younger, but in the last three years, I've seen Sloan three times, Tegan and Sara twice, Wintersleep, The Golden Dogs, Hot Hot Heat, Joel Plaskett, and A.C. Newman. My most recent show, last week in San Francisco, I saw Sam Roberts and Mother Mother. The photo was taken last Thursday specifically for this blog. It was a great show.
Life's pretty good!
